Ore-concentrator belt.



P. H. CRAVEN.

ORE OONGENTRATOR BELT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 17, 1910.

1,083,058. Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SEEETS-SHBET 1.

WITNESSES ATTORW RHJGRAVEN. ORE GONGBNTRATOR BELT. APPLICATION FILED MAY 17, 1910. 1,083,058. Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES P; H. CRAVEN."

ORE OONGENTRATOR BELT.

APPLIGATION FILED MAY17, 1910. 1,083,058, Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHEETS-EHEET 3.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY? UNITED srn'igais PETER H. CRAVEN, 0F SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNGR T0 P. H. CRAVEN MACHINERY COMPANY, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, A CORPORATION OF WASHINGTON.

ORECONCENTRATOR BELT.

App i ation fil d May 7, 1910. Seria N 5 5 TQ all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, PETER CRAVEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane, State of Washington, have invented a new and useful One Concentrator Belt, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

My present invention consists of a novel ore concentrator belt which is adapted to be continuously moved and supported in such a manner that the belt is transversely inclined during a portion of its travel and transversely and longitudinally inclined during the next period of its travel, the belt being provided at opposite edges with longitudinally extending riifles or remforcements and the upper one of which will prevent the back splash of the water and the belt being supported in such a manner that the pulp water will pass transversely over the lower edge thereof and if desired, the concentrator belt may be provided with a desired number of longitudinally extending ritfies located intermediately of the riflies at the edge of the concentrating surface.

It further consists of other novel features of construction, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

For the purpose of illustrating my invention, I ha e shown in the ac ompany ng drawings those embodiments thereof which are at present preferred by me, since the same have been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, although it is to be understood that the various instrumentalities of which my invention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that my invention is not limitodto the precise arrangement and organization of these instrumentalities as herein shown and described.

Figure 1 represents a transverse section of an ore concentrator, showing a concentrator belt embodying my invention. F 2 represents a perspective view of the ore concentrator belt in detached position. Fig. 3 represents a perspective view of another embodiment of my invention. Fig. 4. representS a section on line Fig. 3. 5 represents a top plan view of another embodiment ofimy invention.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts inthe figures.

Referring" to the drawings The con struction shown for supporting my novel Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30,1913.

belt conforms to that disclosed in my copending application, filed May 17, 1910, Serial No. 561,868, now Patent No. 1,060,323, granted April 29, 1913, in which I have described and broadly claimed the manner of supporting a belt and the method of concentrating the ore.

In Fig. 1, I have shown one type of an ore concentrator in conjunction with which my novel construction of ore concentrator belt is adapted to be employed, although it will be apparent that the same is not limited to use with such a construction but may be employed with other types of ore concentrators. 1 designates a supporting base on which are suitably mounted the channels 2 which latter carry the framework 3. The framework 3 is provided with brackets 4, the brackets 4- on one side of the machine having pivoted thereto the bars 5 of the framework, the opposite ends of the bars being provided with a bolt 6 which passes through a slot 7 in such bracket, the height of the adjustable end of the bar being determined by means of the set screw 8, carried by the bracket 4: in proximity thereto. 9 designates a slatted belt provided with a plurality of sprocket chains 10, which cor-act with sprocket wheels 11 suitably mounted in the framework of the machine. Each of the slats .of the slatted belt 9 is preferably provided with a bracket 12 which co-acts with a stationary guide 13 to maintain the same in the proper horizontal plane on the upper stretch of the slatted belt and the guide 13 is adapted to engage the under face of the bracket 12 on the return stretch of the belt to prevent undue sagging of the same. The ends of the slats on the high side of the slatted belt are deflected upwardly, as is indicated at 14:, while the opposite ends of the slats are rounded, as is indicated at '15, 16 designates my novel ore concentrator belt which passes ever end rollers, suitably journaled in the frame of the machine. The concentrator belt 16 is also loosely mounted on the slatted belt 9and the longitudinal travel of the concentrator belt is caused by its frictional engagement with the slats of the slatted belt. 17 designates a distributing box of any desired type located along the upper side of the machine above the concentrator belt to which water is fed through the (conduit 18, said latter conduit also supplying the washer box 19 from which the wash water is discharged through the ports 20 to the ore concentrator belt 16 in a reverse direction to the longitudinal travel of the belt. Owing to the rounded ends 15 of the slatted belt the lower edge of the concentrator belt after passing over the end rollers is deflected over such edge to form a vertical dripping edge, as will be clearly understood by reference to Fig. 1, and there will be no drip as the belt approaches the pulley on which it is mounted, owing to the provision of a roller 21 which also prevents the wash water flowing over the side of the belt when the latter is traveling through the transversely and longitudinally inclined plane. 22 designates a roller adjustably mounted in brackets 23, said roller engaging the concentrator belt to prevent the same from becoming too slack and also to give the same an upward inclination. The water is sprayed from the conduit 24 in order to remove the concentrate from the belt.

In the embodiment seen in Fig. 2, my novel construction of concentrator belt 16 consists of an endless belt formed of any suitable material, the upper edge of which is provided with a longitudinally extending reinforcement 25, which may be formed in any suitable manner and in the present instance I have shown this as being formed by deflecting a portion of the outer edge of the belt upon itself and suitably securing the same together, whereby an additional thickness of material is formed at the upper outer edge of the belt. The lower edge of the belt is provided with a longitudinally extending riliie 26 of any desired width, such riflie being formed in any suitable manner and in the present instance I have shown the same for purposes of illustration as being formed by deflecting a portion of the outer edge of the belt upon itself, thereby forming a double thickness of material at this point, and owing to the inclination of the belt a longitudinally extending pool is formed at 27, the object of which is to arrest any rapid flow of the pulp or ore until. the same is brought to a point at which it comes into contact with the flow of wash water. In many cases arising in practice it is very advantageous to also provide the belt with a desired number of riflies extending longitudinally of the belt or angularly inclined to the travel of the belt, although the same are not essential in all cases. The belt may be constructed of any suitable material and is ordinarily constructed of a desired fabric, such as, for example, canvas, but if for any reason, such as the rapid deterioration of the canvas owing to the action of the acid water flowing across the belt, this belt may be madeof an acid-resisting material such as rubber or of composition. In this event,

f to get the same surface on a rubber or composition belt as is obtained on canvas, it

would be necessary to resort to riflling parallelly or angularly to the direction of the travel of the belt. 28 designates aseries of longitudinal riffles which are located any desired distance apart on the concentrator surface of the belt and the height of these ri'liles is preferably less than the height of the riille 26 at the lower side of the concentrator surface of the belt. In some cases it is advisable, instead of locating the riflies longitudinally thereon, to angularly incline the same, as at 29, Fig. 5. In some instances it is advantageous to construct a belt in such a manner that the same is readily reversible and in such cases the upper reinforcement 25 is preferably formed in a manner similar to and of the same Width as the longitudinally extending riffle 26, whereby the belt may be readily reversed and the reinforcement 25 will serve the same purpose and function when the belt is reversed as the riflie 26.

In the operation, it will be understood that when the pulp or ore, which has been retained on the belt owing to the pool 27 formed by the riiiie 26 reaches a predetermined point as 30, Fig. 2, it will come into contact with th flow of' wash water and the flow of wash water will converge with the pulp water contained on the belt along the diagonally extending line 31, it being understood that the water, together with the wash from the ore, passes over'the lower riffle 26. After the belt passes over the rollers and comes into engagement with the slatted endless belt which forms thesupporting means for the same, the outer portion of the riffle 26 will extend over the ends of the slats and form a dripping edge, so that drip water is not carried back by capillary means into the working parts of the machine.

It will now be understood by those skilled in this art that my novel construction of concentrator belt is preferably inclined and adapted to continuously travel in a longitudinal direction, the pulp being preferably fed along the upper edge of the transversely inclined belt and the water for washing the ore being preferably fed near the discharge end of the belt and flowing in a direction opposite to the longitudinal movement of the belt, so that as the flow of water comes into contact with the pulp, carried by the belt, the water will flow downwardly in a direction angularly inclined to the longitudinal movement of the belt and pass-over the riifleat the lower edge of the belt.

The construction shown in Fig. 1 operates in the same manner as that shown in my co-pending application to which I have hereinbefore referred, the machine being constructed in such a manner that the concentrating belt during'its passage through the ore dressing zone will travel in a trans- Versely inclined plane and then into the ore washing zone during which time it will pass through a transversely and longitudinally inclined plane, the line 31 indicating the dividing line between the two zones. In Fig. 1 the section is taken looking toward the transversely and longitudinally inclined plane of the ore washing zone. It will be seen that the reinforcement at the lower edge of the belt is flexible and is of such substantial breadth as to permit upward and downward deflections thereof at different portions of the length and present an upstanding portion of varying height tothe transverse flow of the pulp, it being understood that as the belt passes through the ore concentrating zone the lower edge of the reinforcement will be deflected clownwardly, while as it passes through theore washing zone the rollers 27 will cause the same to be deflected upwardly.

It will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful construction of an ore concentrator belt, which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable'in the statement of the invention and the above description, and while I have, in the present instance, shown and described a preferred embodiment thereof which has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A concentrator belt, the inner surface of which presents a plane surface, the outer or concentrating surface having thereon and extending inwardly from its edges 2. A concentrator belt, the inner surface of which present-s a plane surface, the outer or concentrating surface having thereon and extending inwardly from its edges raised portions, one of the inwardly extending portions being ofa different width than the other, and being flexible and of such substantial breadth as to permit upward and downward deflections thereof at different portions of its length, and the concentrating surface between the raised portion having arranged parallel thereon a plurality of longitudinally extending riffles.

3. A concentrator belt, the inner surface of which presents a plane surface the outer or concentrating surface having thereon and extending inwardly from its edges raised portions formed by inwardly deflecting the body of the belt and securing it to the main portion of the belt, such reinforcement being flexible and of such substantial breadth as to permit upward and downward deflections thereof at different portions of its length, and the concentrating surface between the raised portions having arranged thereon a plurality of longitudinally extending riflies.

PETER H. CRAVEN. Witnesses:

H. S. FAIRBANKS, C. D. MCVAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, 11-6. 

